Oct. 29, 2015 LMU Volleyball on Facebook | | LMU Volleyball on Instagram
Full AVP Release
The LMU beach volleyball program was well-represented when the AVP announced its 2015 year-end award winners on Thursday, as first-year head coach John Mayer was named MVP on the men's side and former Lion Betsi Metter Flint earned Newcomer of the Year on the women's side.
In addition to being named MVP for the first time in his career, Mayer, who is preparing for his first season as a head coach in 2016, was also named Best Defender. Mayer's defensive skills helped his team to four finals appearances, six semi-finals and a tournament title in Seattle in 2015. Mayer made an impressive 387 digs -- the most on tour in 2015 -- in 82 games. One of the most well rounded players on Tour, Mayer delivered 43 aces and 476 kills to accompany his 387 digs.
Better Flint, who earned All-American honors after finishing her LMU career by reaching the 2015 National Championship match with partner Sarah Sponcil, impressed in her first full-time season on Tour, starting the season entering qualifying tournaments and earning her way to being one half of the fifth-ranked team on tour in less than a year. Metter Flint proved to be very effective behind teammate Kelley Larsen, making 269 digs in 49 games, but it was at the service line where she truly impressed. Metter Flint ranked third among all women on Tour with a 0.93 aces/game average. Also notable, Metter Flint and Larsen became the youngest team to win an AVP tournament when they claimed the AVP Kingston Cincinnati Open title over Labor Day weekend. It was the first career AVP tournament victory for both players.
The AVP enjoyed another successful year as the tour continued to flourish in its third full year under the leadership of Donald Sun. The enhanced seven-event 2015 tour schedule reached the nation's largest markets and beach volleyball hotbeds, including the AVP's first-ever event in Manhattan (N.Y.) and its long-awaited returns to New Orleans, Seattle and Chicago. The AVP increased its partnership revenue, and hundreds of thousands of fans were entertained across the nation with the dynamic competition on the sand, yielding impressive TV ratings on NBC and NBC Sports Network.
With its end-of-season awards, the AVP honors the beach volleyball veterans and newcomers that have helped elevate the level of competition enjoyed by fans across the country in 2015.
The year-end honors were awarded based on statistics, player votes and points earned during the 2015 tour season. Ten players were nominated in the categories of best defensive player, best blocker and best server, based on statistics (blocks, digs and aces recorded per set, with a minimum of 30 sets played to qualify for the category), with the winner being chosen by votes cast by active AVP players. Similarly, the top 10 offensive players were nominated based on hitting percentage (with a minimum of 600 attacks to qualify), with the winner also being selected by AVP players. Five men's players and nine women's players were nominated for newcomer of the year honors, based on the criteria that they must have been ranked among the top 32 players in their gender at the end of the 2015 season and must have played in less than half of the previous season's main draws.
Winners in the categories of most valuable player and most improved player were selected by AVP athletes through a write-in ballot. Teams were nominated in the category of team of the year based on tournament wins and overall points earned in 2015, with the winner being selected in a vote cast by the AVP players.
The AVP also honored the Tour's official DJ, Jeremy "DJ Roueche" Roueche, with the AVP's Lifetime Achievement award for his contributions to the tour over the past 12 years.
A complete list of the award winners and honorees is below.
Best blocker: Phil Dalhausser | Jenny Kropp
Best server: Robbie Page | April Ross
Best defender: John Mayer | Kendra Van Zwieten
Best offensive player: Ryan Doherty | Nicole Branagh
Most improved player: Billy Kolinske | Kendra Van Zwieten
Newcomer of the year: Taylor Crabb | Betsi Metter Flint
Most valuable player: John Mayer | April Ross
Team of the year: John Hyden & Tri Bourne | Nicole Branagh & Jenny Kropp
Lifetime Achievement Award: Jeremy "DJ Roueche" Roueche
